Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

annual meeting of the Blairadam Club (a society of antiquarians) in Fife. Less than three weeks later, on 8 July, Raeburn was dead.
That same day Scott wrote to Benjamin Robert Haydon:
This has been a severe season for the arts: about a fortnight since I had a very merry party through Fifeshire, with our Chief Baron
(Sergeant Shepherd) and the Lord Chief Commissioner, and above all, Sir H. Raeburn, our famous portrait painter. No one could
seem more healthy than he was, or more active, and of an athletic spare habit, that seemed made for a very long life. But this
morning I have the melancholy news of his death after three days illness, by which painting is deprived of a votary of genius, our city
of an ornament, and society of a most excellent and most innocent member. (Letters, VIII, 32)
On 17 July Scott wrote to Lord Montagu:
Poor Sir Henry Reaburn [sic] is no more- He was over in Fife with the Chief Commissioner Chief Baron & myself on a pleasure party
about three weeks hence and I never saw a man in better health. But he died of water in the head a hopeless disease which must
have been long in the constitution. When he came back from Fife he said now I am better acquainted with your face than ever I was
(having been three or four days in company) I will finish Lord Montagu's picture & my own for I had agreed long since to sit to him on
his own account and both pictures were nearly finishd. I went accordingly and sate to him for nearly three hours when he finishd his
own head in a most masterly manner and did a great deal to that designd to your Lordship but chiefly to the drapery. I upbraided him
in jest with having taken best care of himself & he allowd he had but agreed whenever the paint on your copy was dry I should have
a finishing sitting. All this being the case I think your Lordship should have the finishd picture which is really considerd as the best
likeness which ever has been made of so indifferent an original for your Lordship cannot certainly be expected to take the unfinishd
picture which would require one long sitting to bring it to the same perfection. In all respects they are quite the same only the dress
is different to show that both were originals. (Letters, VIII, 45-46)
Scott subsequently wrote to the painter's son requesting that Lord Montagu be offered the refusal of the more complete portrait if it
were to be sold (Letters, VIII, 62-64). The painter's family, however, were determined to keep the portrait as one of Raeburn's last
and greatest works. In fact, Raeburn had worked on the portrait commissioned by Montagu after the writer had last seen it, and it
was far nearer completion than Scott had feared. Indeed, Scott was to judge Lord Montagu's version 'a better picture (the subject
considered) than any one but Lawrence could at present produce' (letter to Lady Louisa Stuart, 4 April 1824, Letters, VIII, 245).
The painting made for Raeburn's own gallery now hangs in the Scottish
National Portrait Gallery. It is a half-length portrait of Scott in full face. He
is portrayed wearing a dark-green coat, a buff waistcoat, and a gold chain.
His collar is white and neckcloth black. The background is a dark reddish
colour. Many copies of the picture were painted but, unlike Raeburn's
1808 portrait, relatively few engravings were made after the original.
http://www.egy.com/landmarks/95-02-04.shtml
The London Bute House is named after an unpopular 18th century Scotish nobleman who was British prime minister for one year
(May 1762-April 1763). John Stuart (1713-92) Third Earl of Bute lived and later died at Bute House aged 79. Perhaps unpoular with
the British public yet to his credit it was John Stuart who advised on the foundation of Kew Gardens. The Bute family are direct
descendants of King Robert the Bruce whose daughter Marjorie married Walter, the then "Steward of Bute", in 1315. Their son, King
Robert II of Scotland, thus became the first Stuart King. The Stuart name is derived from the hereditary office of "Steward of Bute"
held by the family since 1157.
Flanked by South and Deanery Streets Bute House fronts Mayfair's posh South Audley Street. It was originally laid out by Edward
Shepheard in 1736 for John St. John (afterwards Viscount St. John of Battersea). Subsequently it was leased to Lady Margaret
Watson (Dowager Lady Monson) for 220 pounds per annum in 1748. When he moved into the house in 1753, the Earl of Bute
became the building's third occupant. Henceforth it would be known as Bute House.
Between 1812-19 the 4th Duke of Buccleuch (also Sixth Duke of Queensberry) lived there. He was succeeded by Lewis Hughes,
MP, (afterwards Lord Dinorben) during whose occupancy part of the building burnt down in 1835.
44. George, 5th Earl of Aboyne, afterwards 9th Marquis of Huntly 1802-04
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gordon%2C_9th_Marquess_of_Huntly
George Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntly and 5th Earl of Aboyne KT (28 June 1761–17 June 1853) was the son of Charles
Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne.
On 4 April 1791, he married Catherine Cope and they had nine children:
Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly (1792–1863)
Catherine Susan Gordon (1792–1866)
Reverend Lord George Gordon (1794–1862)
Admiral Lord John Frederick Gordon (1799–1878)
Major Lord Henry Gordon (1802–1865)
Cecil James Gordon (1806–1878)
Lady Mary Gordon (d. 1825)
Lt.-Col. Francis Arthur Gordon (1808–1857)
After succeeding to the title of Earl of Aboyne in 1794 after the death of his father, he also succeeded to the title of Marquess of
Huntly after his distant, childless cousin, the 5th Duke of Gordon had died
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